I do a Columbus/Sabro hazy, and it's amazing. One of my favorite hop combos.
I recently brewed a NEIPA with just 4 oz of Nectaron along with Columbus and Citra and it had the craziest hop burn I ever experienced, it finally settled down but it took like 6 weeks. Now I think of Nectaron as being similar to Galaxy, so I will either use it very sparingly, or be more careful to dry hop cool & short, and use whirlfloc and gelatin to try to drop the polyphenols in suspension.
Since your unwilling to change the only option to improve your current process is, install a Janish filter for your keg and eliminate the hop bag and add them loose.
Do you see the main drawback is that the hops are in contact with the beer for too long?
Certainly that will play some part but more the presence of yeast and stripping of compounds. Also some of your dryhop load sinking into the trub and not contacting the beer. Then possible clogging where attempting to fix it may cause oxidation.
You could always use a floating diptube to transfer the finished beer to a purged serving keg via CO2. Requires no extra gear except another keg. But for the cost of @Dgallo setup, you might want to consider it. Personally, I wouldn't want my neipa on the dry hops for 2-4 weeks...
Stripping of compounds?
I do the floating dip tube already. I resist because I'm lazy, and because I am apparently a dummy, about 2 years ago I tried closed transfers a couple times and it never worked and was a huuuuuge PITA, and I've been happy with my results of dryhopping the same ferment/serve keg. But I think I'll try the closed transfer again, worst case it ****s up again and I expose beer to oxygen and I'll just have to chug it all quickly
Yeast had a positive attractions to some hop oils and compounds. Some studies that came out (probably 5 or more years ago now) showed that dry hoping while high yeast counts are present results in a less expressive beer because when the yeast does floc out of suspension it pull these hop compound out with them.
Ah, got it. I'll look that up, because I remember all teh debate about dry hopping during krausen or post ferm, so maybe not appicable to what I'm doing but worth re reading anyway
I was you for 5 years. I was afraid to try it, for fear of the unknown. I now have gear that enables me to pressure transfer, and it's made a HUGE difference in aroma and flavor.
How much beer do you end up with?
Usually around 4.5 gallons, maybe a little less. It’s just me drinking it, or most of it anyway, so that’s fine.
Funny, because I'm thinking for my next neipa I may drop the serving keg and try serving directly from the dry hop keg. Have you noticed any flavor issues that can be directly tied back to sitting on the hops for a month or so?
Since I started fermenting in kegs a few years ago I usually add dry hops at the same time I put the keg on gas and leave them in for the duration of consumption. I've always been very pleased with the results but haven't done side-by-side comparisons with other methods
Adding in the Fermzilla All Rounder as another cheap fermenter for closed transfers (also pressurizable and small enough to fit in a dorm fridge). Been very happy with mine. FermZilla All Rounder Fermenter | 7.9 gal. | 30 L | MoreBeer
I’ve also noticed no real difference when just dry hopping in the fv directly after soft crashing yeast. I used to use the DH keg but was forced to skip it one batch because my kegs were all in use. i suppose I might be missing out on some hop aroma/expression from not being able to rouse hops, but certainly have not had any off flavors or hop burn from leaving the yeast cake at the bottom during DH.
I started using one keg to ferm, DH & serve with floating dip tube a couple years ago. It was a game changer for me. Only guessing, but I give most of the credit to greater control over oxygen ingress. Have used k-meta (campden) before change to single keg. Did start adding ALDC and bio fine recently and feel both help.
why not push the beer into a second keg? Getting the beer off the hop ensures you don't pick up any grassiness and help have the hop character brighter.
It is also stop introduction of more enzymes so you might be fighting an uphill battle if you dont get the beer off the hops.
How much of a ph swing does the ascorbic usually have on your batch?
I do 1 tsp per 5 gallons when racking into keg. But I haven't used it since closed transferring.
Not by much. My terminal ph is around 4.6 since I’m not adding Asorbic in the mash, I’m still using phosphoric asid to lower the ph.
Same as @wepeeler I put 1 tablespoon in a 15 gallon batch when I used it in the past.
My 2022 was far better than my 20 and 21 but still not as good as it used to be. I’m personally waiting to see how 23 harvest is
